


Mean to love

by withered



Series: Who's been lovin' you good? [49]
Category: Iron Man (Movies)
Genre: Accidental Relationship, Enemies With Benefits, Friends With Benefits, M/M, Mentions of Sexual Acts, Not Steve Rogers Friendly, Not Team Captain America Friendly, Post-Captain America: Civil War (Movie)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-01
Updated: 2020-01-01
Packaged: 2021-02-20 01:36:24
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22074220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/withered/pseuds/withered
Summary: Tony could have worse coping mechanisms. This one, at least, doesn't come with any obvious downsides. Except, "Does Super Serum produce super sperm, is that a thing? Will I get pregnant?"Beside him, Barnes exhales noisily.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Series: Who's been lovin' you good? [49]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/918138
Comments: 146
Kudos: 2082





	Mean to love

**Author's Note:**

> I've always wanted to write a friends-with-benefits type fic, and this idea was actually prompted to me awhile back on Tumblr. 
> 
> The fic title is taken from Harry Hudson's "Mean to love" which is a lot deeper than this fic is, but it's a mood so.

Tony could have worse coping mechanisms.

That's just a fact. He knows because he's had them; everything from alcohol to drugs to adrenaline rushes of all sorts, Tony's tried it at least once. Choosing sex is probably the least of his vices, and thanks to his current choice in bedwarmers, babies aren't even in the equation.

He hopes.

God, that would be just his luck.

Turning his head - flopping, to be more accurate, that last orgasm really was something special - Tony squints. "Does Super Serum produce super sperm, is that a thing? Will I get pregnant?"

Beside him, Barnes exhales noisily.

"I'm just saying," Tony continues, "I know you can't _get_ anything to give me so we haven't exactly been _safe_. Yet another thing we haven't looked into: _H_ _ow_. Are your antibodies cellular Super Soldiers too?" 

When Barnes hums noncommittally, Tony tells Friday to make a note that they check under a microscope next time, instructions that are interceded with other stray thoughts that may or may not be directly related to the matter at hand. Tony feels the curve of Barnes' lips against his skin before, finally, his companion asks, "Are you always like this?"

And to Tony's surprise, there's no judgment or annoyance in the Super Soldier's tone, just curiosity. Regardless, Tony isn't a liar, and this is the first time Barnes has contributed to any kind of pillow talk they have, so, Tony replies, "Yes."

Another hum, thoughtful. "Even after sex?"

"This is not our first rodeo, Wonderland," Tony reminds with a snicker, and pokes an index finger into the other man's chest. "Did I break your brain with that last one?" At that, Barnes snorts, and instead of being offended, Tony turns over in Barnes' arms, palms pressing down the boulders that are his shoulders, and wiggles his brows with a salacious grin. "Well now, that sounds like a challenge."

-

-

-

  
The whole thing started two weeks after the Rogues' return.

It's unintentional, of course. Unexpected.

They haven't had the most promising of beginnings, and while Tony's worked through his complicated feelings around Barnes and the deaths of Howard and Maria, he's still...touchy. Because sure, Barnes was tortured and brainwashed, but what happened at the bunker wasn't a result of that, and _Rogers_ , of all people, had zero reason to be involved in the first place.

That the Avengers' implosion, in the end, being the result of their fearless leader's decision to choose one man over the team's overall well-being, their reputation, and the lives of civilians, and Tony being made into the bad guy in the end just - _it wasn't fair._ And yes, it had been childish and petulant to let loose the full force of his displeasure on Barnes, but it had seemed like a logical choice, at the time. Rogers had done it for _him_. Had taken Tony's resources, his connections, his loyalty, the small family they'd built together and spent it on the man that had murdered his mother.

Barnes had taken on the storm like he'd been expecting it, accepting Tony's anger unflinchingly, and then saying, quiet and mournful, "You're right, I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

And really, it _infuriated_ Tony.

Because he knew, _he knew_ that his anger was misdirected, and Barnes was just - _taking it?_

Tony was so tired of the bullshit, and he'd taken in Barnes' drawn shoulders, the resigned acceptance on his face and the dullness in his eyes, and shoved him, and kept shoving him because-because. Tony knew that stance, knew that look, had seen it in his own reflection for months after the "Civil War" debacle, and _it wasn't fucking right._

Barnes didn't fight back, accepted it as he had Tony's scathing summarisation of their past thus far until Tony was furious and crying and demanding, broken and pathetic, "We don't fucking deserve this. What the fuck, Barnes. _What the fuck?"_

And something about that seemed to flip a switch in Barnes' head because suddenly he was moving and pushing back, and Tony had vaguely expected a fistfight at best, total annihilation at worst. Instead what Tony got was a Super Soldier holding him close, pressing himself between Tony and the rest of the world, and doing-doing whatever he could, apparently, to keep Tony's mind off the pain that was gripping his heart like a vice.

It was not the last time.

  
-

-

-

  
To say Tony had been thrown for a loop was an understatement. Barnes had left right after kissing him and then sucking him off, uncaring that his hair was a disaster and his mouth was red, and that the impressive piece of equipment between Barnes' thighs was jutting out like a pole, and giving him a hitch to his step that had nothing to do with the compensation required by his metal arm.

Dazed, Tony stares at the ceiling almost blankly before suddenly indignant, he demands to his empty workshop, "What the fuck was that."

  
-

-

-

  
Tony figures it's hate sex.

He's under no illusions that the Winter Soldier, of all people, could have better coping mechanisms than him, and in Tony's defense, for a while, the encounters that followed were as equally as abrupt as the first time.

Honestly, Tony's not complaining.

Considering the current environment of the Compound, the world at large, and the resulting pressure he's under; Tony's wound up tight, and the release that comes from a fight that doesn't require bloodshed is both addictive and necessary.

And while there's still a danger to Barnes - his relationship with Rogers being the main one, alongside that pesky "Winter Soldier, Fist of Hydra" title, Barnes is almost pointedly harmless.

Sure, he can hoist Tony up against the wall, or really, fuck him standing, if the mood takes them in that direction. And sure, Barnes has a pair of lungs on him generous enough to take the weight of Tony on his chest while he eats Tony out. But Barnes also has an affinity for playing with Legos, and wearing thumb-hole sweaters, and the number of times Tony has caught the other man looking unabashedly awed and endearingly confused since their re-acquaintance explains the need for Barnes' muzzle-mask when he's in full Winter Soldier regalia.

Which Tony enjoys removing piece by piece with particular, vindictive pleasure that Barnes certainly approves of with the way he begs for it.

The man is flat out _adorable_ , and Tony hopes Barnes' former handlers are rolling in their graves.

  
-

-

-

  
Unsurprisingly, Pepper finds out and makes them sign paperwork.

Rhodey side-eyes him hard.

Rogers looks in constant agony.

Tony has never had an arrangement this fun before.

They don't bother with a press statement, but then again the image of the Winter Soldier guarding Tony when he's outside of the Iron Man suit seems like message enough. Tony just assumes that Barnes is protecting the asset that is _Tony's assets_.

Rhodey gags appropriately, and Carol won't stop cackling.

Rogers looks like he wants nothing more than a quick death.

Tony doesn't think he's ever been happier.

  
-

-

-

  
It takes Tony another month from the conversation about Super Sperm to realize that what they're doing isn't hate sex.

When Tony had been away at a conference, the kids had asked Barnes' permission to be in the workshop. After conferring with Friday because Tony couldn't be reached, Barnes had subsequently supervised the teenagers the entire weekend of their stay.

Tony has griped for weeks about Rhodey and Barnes taking turns dragging him to medical, as needed (and sometimes not because apparently they both have untapped Mama Bear genes). And after a particularly rough episode, Barnes, under Blackout Protocols, became one of only three people allowed into Tony's rooms. Though Tony could make the argument that it's because Barnes basically _lives_ in Tony's rooms anyway and that just brings up a whole other point about how Barnes is _living with Tony_ in a way no one has except _Pepper_ , and that's definitely Serious Territory, a revelation that earns him unimpressed eyebrow raises from around the breakfast table:

Rhodey declares, "You idiot."

Pepper sighs, "What did you think those papers were for? It's the fraternization policy." Then, to Barnes, "I'm sorry your boyfriend is an idiot, James."

"It's alright," Barnes drawls, "he's still pretty."

Tony's expression is appropriately offended. In his defense, while his brain works fast, even when it's still trying to reform from the ooze that had escaped out his ears, the orgasms Barnes wrings out of him are _fucking spectacular_.

Regardless, it takes waking up, wrapped like an octopus around Barnes, and Barnes petting his hair, and telling him in Russian to go back to sleep, for it to really settle in. And Tony would usually panic about how he'd somehow managed to get into a relationship, and how much of it was borne of guilt or poor coping mechanisms, and how it won't last and-and-and-

But then Barnes is murmuring _solnishko_ against his temple, pressing lingering kisses against the soft skin of his ear, and Tony can't say that he minds very much.

And from the way the Super Soldier's eyes soften when Tony calls him James, Tony doesn't think he really minds either.

-

-

-

  
Tony asks him, a few weeks later what made James decide to kiss him that first time after Tony had yelled at him, and James considers before:

"You were angry at all the things that made me guilty, but you also mourned for what we lost, and what was taken. You ached for us, and I ached for you. I didn't know how to comfort you, I only know that I wanted to try."

**Author's Note:**

> [As always](https://everything-withered.tumblr.com)


End file.
